A successful businessperson needs to develop two different sets of skills: qualitative and quantitative. The latter are sometimes called hard skills and vary based on the industry you’re in. The mathematical skills that a data analyst or financial professional uses would be quantitative. Qualitative skills are sometimes referred to as soft, but that doesn’t mean that they are less important or easier to develop. In fact, some who are very good on the quantitative end of things need to develop more on the qualitative side so that they can work better as part of a team or communicate more effectively with customers or staff. Below are some of the soft business skills you can work on that will serve you well across industries.
Negotiation
Negotiation is a subset of communication, but it is an important subset and should be focused on all on its own. It would be a mistake to think of a negotiation as an argument that you need to win although certainly your object is to reach the best possible outcome for you and your company. However, you need to be able to reduce or, ideally, avoid conflict and leave everyone satisfied with the final agreement.
Problem Solving
An essential business skill is the ability to analyze the various components of a problem and land on a solution. This can come in handy for a fleet manager, who is juggling a number of different concerns, including safety, efficiency and compliance. An analysis of how to ensure that these different facets are all being addressed might lead to dash cams as a potential solution. Because they live stream video, drivers are able to get feedback and training remotely. Driver concerns about privacy as well as information about the benefits of live stream, how it works, and how to choose the best dash cam for your company can all be found online.
Leadership
Whether you are in charge of a small team or helming an entire company, leadership is an important quality to develop. Just as negotiation is a subset of communication, it could be said that leadership is a subset of management, or the people part. A genuinely good leader looks for ways to make others shine. It is not just about how to attract more customers or get more out of your employees. You need to be able to motivate and inspire people as well as help them move toward their own goals. Emotional regulation is another important component of leadership. Learning to respond to conflict and crisis with equanimity will serve you in good stead throughout your career.
Analysis
In this instance, analysis is a kind of catch-all word for the ability to take in and understand pertinent data that may be large in volume, delivered during a time of stress or communicated amid a great deal of irrelevant information. Knowing how to hone in on the most crucial points even when the person providing them does not recognize them or when there is a lot to sift through will come in handy again and again. You should then be able to accurately distill the essence of that information and communicate it to others.
